I was having a conversation online recently about the wonders of the Various Artists compilation album, which at certain times has been a real work of art. There are others I could go on about at some length but these are the three that immediately come to mind, all released within a few years of each other (and all tied together as well).

I’ve written before about Creation Records 1991 dance/house compilation Keeping The Faith but it is a perfect example, a well put together round up of similar minded artists and tracks defining a moment in time. From the opening minutes where Fluke take off on a Pan Am to Philly through to Hypnotone, a pair of Primal Scream remixes, Weatherall’s definitive remix of My Bloody Valentine, Love Corporation, J.B.C., Sheer Taft, Danny Rampling’s The Sound Of Shoom and World Unite here isn’t a duff track and it is full of great moments. The Tears For Fears sample in J.B.C.’s cover of We Love You sums up how far Creation Records have shifted in 1991- ‘dj’s the man you love the most’. World Unite by World Unite is a majestic ambient house dub excursion- bubbling synths, up vocals with an eye on the dancefloor. The only thing I know about World Unite is that it was written by Potter and Stacey. And I love it still.

In the mid-to-late 80s Creation excelled at budget compilations, often a way to keep the wolf from the door and keep the cash coming in. At a knock down price of £1.99 1988’s Doing It For The Kids was an essential purchase- The Jasmine Minks, Felt, Primal Scream (early indie version), The Weather Prophets (their song Well Done Sonny is below), The House Of Love, The Jazz Butcher, Biff Bang Pow!, My Bloody Valentine, Momus, The Times, Nikki Sudden, Pacific, Heidi Berry, Emily, Razorcuts. It is almost the complete picture of post-Smiths indie. And completely untouched by what was already brewing that would lead to Keeping The Faith. A snapshot of a time.

The last one is this one, Retro Techno/Detroit Definitive Emotions Electric, a 1991 double album of the futuristic sounds of Detroit, a pulling together of the work of Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May, wall to wall techno classics that still sounds like its ahead of everyone else. From Model 500 at the start of Disc 1 Side 1 through to the massive drums, rhythms and bleeps of The Groove That Won’t Stop, this is better than most ‘proper’ albums. The closing track is a sublime version one of dance music’s set texts, the unreleased mix of Strings Of Life by Rhythim Is Rhythim.

My ears have been very much attuned to techno recently, especially the futuristic sounds coming out of Detroit between 1987 and 1989. There are lots of discussions and arguments in music about firsts, who made the firstrecord in a particular style, who the inventor or originator was. This record, Nude Photo, made by Derrick May as Rhythim Is Rhythim, is arguably the first techno record and it is sublime, hitting the head and feet equally with its marriage of rhythm and melody, and the shock of otherness. There are arguments that Model 500’s No UFOs was first or Cybotron was. Others argue that these were electro rather than techno. It gets like that. And it doesn’t really matter I suppose.

We have spent some time this week emptying some cupboards and drawers, de-cluttering, rationalising and in some cases chucking shit out. Why I had kept hold of some things? Why had I saved not one, not two, but five old mobile phones? This was made much easier by listening to Innovator, a 1991 six track vinyl compilation of Derrick May’s work, where he invents much of the sound of the modern world.

One of the many dance records Factory passed up on in the late 80s that Mike Pickering then put out on DeConstruction was his own T-Coy track Carino (posted yesterday). They also passed up Voodoo Ray and Ride On Time. Another was Dream 17 by Annette, mentioned by Drew himself in the comments yesterday. Dream 17 is a massive, forward thinking house record with a superb melodic bassline, the 303 in full effect and a vocal giving it soul. It was actually made by Pickering and Simon Topping plus two others using the Annette alias. Carino, Dream 17 and Voodoo Ray were all compiled on the seminal (oops, I used the seminal word) compilation North- The Sound Of The Dance Underground, which had an equally memorable cover (from Manchester’s Central Station Design)- goodbye to the grey and the indie, welcome to technicolour house.

On this Saturday morning in October, for no reason other than it came to mind last night, I present to you…. the greatest techno record ever made.

This is the unreleased mix of String Of Life, as available on the superb Retro Techno/Detroit Definitive: Emotions Electric lp, one of dance music’s essential texts. This is not techno with banging repetitive beats (not that there’s anything wrong with that, in the right time and place), nor a slightly dated late 80s club anthem. This is electronic music as food for the soul, machine music for a future that never quite materialised. As the subtitle of the album said ‘Emotions Electric’- and without vocals too.

One more Man Ray portrait, this time of poet and celebrity fascist Ezra Pound, looking as cool as a cucumber while contemplating a move to Italy and the policies of Mussolini. Possibly. To be fair, Ezra did say he regretted his pro-fascist words and actions later in life. Spending several weeks locked in a cage by US forces at the end of World War Two didn’t help his mental state either.

The title’s probably the only time I’ll compare this record with The Ting Tings Great DJ.

Following the previous post, 27 Forever by A Certain Ratio, here’s another dance record where I’m posting a version which is not my favourite mix- possibly not that a good theme for a series I’ll admit. Derrick May was one of the Belleville Three, along with Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, who invented techno or at least the Detroit version of it. Strings Of Life (from 1987) is one of the holy artefacts of dance music, with it’s glorious mix of strings, piano and clattering drums. It can lift the lid off a club or a front room, and acquired it’s name after May took it to Frankie Knuckles, who played it seven times in a row when dj-ing and then christened it Strings Of Life. This version is obviously mind-alteringly good. To my mind though the best version is the so-called Unreleased Mix which was on the Retro Techno/Detroit Definitive compilation album and does exactly what it says on the tin. I’ve got it and it’s downstairs and I’m a bit lazy at the moment, so I’m posting this version. I know, not good enough service really is it? Imagine what would OFBLOG say.